Volume 1

Just as Sleep’s 1992 EP Volume Two paid homage to the iconic cover art of 1972's Black Sabbath Vol. 4 (as did Pantera with its 1994 Planet Caravan EP), the Tokyo doom metal group Church of Misery appropriated the same artwork for its 1996 album Volume 1. This 2011 reissue delivers upgraded fidelity, starting with the opening “Cloud Bed”: a sprawling sludge-rock jam that shows Church of Misery in its embryonic stage. Frontman Nobukazu Chow lasted four years after this recording; he was then replaced by Yoshiaki Negishi. But Tomohiro Nishimura’s guitar tone voices the best inflections here, with amazing approximations of Tony Iommi’s sound that come closer than any other axe-wielding Sabbath worshiper. Tatsu Mikami (who still plays with the band) similarly re-creates Geezer Butler’s wah-wah bass here and in the Master of Reality–sounding “Kingdom Scum.” The standout cut “Celebrate Pigs” blasts more than eight minutes of psychedelic doom metal. You have to wonder if these guys knew back in 1996 that they’d help create a movement that turned Black Sabbath's sound into a viable genre.